The Broward School Board decided Tuesday to suspend an employee whose transgender daughter played girls' high school volleyball in an alleged violation of state law.
The board voted 5-4 to suspend Jessica Norton for 10 days instead of terminating her.
“I mean, obviously I don’t want to get fired from my job, I love my job, but I don’t think the decision for any suspension was correct," Norton said after Tuesday's meeting.
Exactly one week ago, most of the nine members of the school board appeared ready to reject Superintendent Howard Hepburn’s recommendation that Norton be fired as a computer information specialist at Monarch High School, where her daughter played on the varsity team last year.
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But many also said they didn't think Norton should go unpunished for violating the state's Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature approved in 2021. The law, which the Broward board lobbied against, bars trans students from participating in girls and women's sports.
Norton maintained that because the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act is a civil law, individuals can’t violate it, only institutions can, and therefore, she did nothing wrong. The school board’s attorney said in her opinion, Norton did violate the law.
“She knew what the law was, she made a decision not to follow the law, and that needs to have consequence to it," school board member Debbie Hixon said.
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A district committee recommended that Norton receive a 10-day suspension, but Hepburn, who was hired in April, called for her firing. He said on July 23 that he felt that was the appropriate punishment for violating the law.
Many board members said that seemed disproportionate. One suggested adopting the 10-day suspension, while another suggested five days.
“I think what happened is criminal in my opinion," school board member Brenda Fam said.
“And if we do not terminate, then others would then be left to believe that they can, too, break the law, and I have a problem with that," school board chair Lori Alhadeff said.
“Ms. Norton did not abuse a child, she did not harm a child, she did what she thought was in the best interest of her daughter," said school board member Sarah Leonardi.
The state athletic commission fined the school $16,500 for violating the law and the principal and three other administrators were temporarily removed from the school after the investigation went public in November.
The school district is the nation’s fifth largest, with almost 255,000 students at 327 schools.
Broward's board, acknowledging Norton's case is unprecedented, eventually adopted member Torey Alston's suggestion that the superintendent's staff compile a list of every employee in the last five years who violated a law, the circumstances and how they were punished. The board, after looking at roughly comparable violations, could then make a decision.
Norton, a district employee for the past seven years, has been on paid leave since November. She said she has not decided yet if she would go back to Monarch High to work.
Her daughter, now 16, was class president and homecoming princess before deciding to leave Monarch in November when the district launched its investigation and public attention spiked. She now attends school online. The girl, who is small and slight, often sat the bench as the Knights went 13-7 last season.
“The child has suffered enough, and so has this family, I think we need to move forward," school board member Jeff Holness said.
“He’s right, nobody can understand what we’ve been through, we’ve been through death threats, harassing phone calls, letters sent to our house, and this was all because something that they did, it wasn’t something that I did," Norton said. "I was protecting my child, again, I did nothing wrong.”
Florida is one of at least 24 states that’s adopted a law banning transgender women and girls from certain sports teams.
The Nortons are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit trying to block Florida’s law as a violation of their daughter’s civil rights. Norton’s child began taking puberty blockers at age 11 and takes estrogen but has not had gender-affirming surgery.
When investigators interviewed three Monarch volleyball players, they said the team did not change clothes or shower together, so they were never disrobed with Norton’s daughter. All three said they knew or suspected Norton’s daughter is transgender, but it didn’t bother them that she was on the team.
